Canyonlands Natural History Association is a nonprofit organization established to assist the scientific and educational efforts of the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the USDA Forest Service in southeast Utah.
Photo: The helpful staff at the Moab Information Center

Excavation and Identification of the Geologically Oldest Sauropod Dinosaur in North America (BLM)

Principal Investigator: John Foster, Museum of MoabThe first dinosaur discovered in Utah, the sauropod Dystrophaeus viaemalae, was found in 1859 by 1. S. Newberry of the Macomb Expedition. The specimen is from the lower Tidwcll Yfember of the Uppcr Jurassic Morrison Formation (-160 mya)and is the only sauropod known from this member.This work plan proposes to return to the Dystrophaeus site, 155 years after its discovery, to excavate more complete and more diagnostic material of this sauropod to better identify how it fits into the evolutionary picture of these animals in North America.